Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Comic Book Comics #6

Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey
41 pages Black & White

Be warned; this is not your everyday comic. Read Comic Book Comics, and if you're not careful you may learn something before it's done.

Comic Book Comics is the second in Evil Twin Comics' string of Non-Fiction Graphic Novels, following on from Action Phiolosophers. Issues 1 through 5 covered issues such as the origin of comic strips, the origin of Superman, comics during wartime, the Comics Code Authority, and (my personal favourite), the All Lawsuit issue. Issue 6 is no slouch as a wrap up, covering the history of Graphic Novels (including Art Speigelman's MAUS and Wil Eisner's THE SPIRIT), the biography of the "God Of Manga" Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astroboy and Kimba the White Lion), the creation of the Direct Market, and Digital Piracy of comics.

The amount of research that goes into Comic Book Comics is incredible, and Fred Van Lente has kept up that standard with this issue. The Tezuka biography was fascinating to read; I never realised how much anime I'd watched that Tezuka created. The Digital Piracy chapter stepped up the information yet again, but I was a little dissapointed by the lack of coverage of legitimate digital comics - a single panel about web comics - especially since I'd read all six issues of Comic Book Comics on my iPad.

Comic Books Comics has been absolutely fascinating; after reading the final issue, I feel like I can now get my diploma in the history of comics.